The developments surrounding AC Milan at the moment could be good news for one of the club’s most divisive players: Christopher Nkunku.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) report that Nkunku is not where he wants to be. He would rather be in Clairefontaine, where the 26-man squad of France received a visit from President Emmanuel Macron yesterday.
Read SempreMilan ad-free and get access to exclusive news. Click here for a free trial!
In 2022, it was a last-minute injury that kept the then RB Leipzig forward out of the World Cup, right at the peak of his career. This time, it was coach Didier Deschamps who removed him from the list. It is also and above all the fault of the months spent with ups and downs at Milan.
Nkunku rejoined the national team in October after almost a year’s absence, but was then left out of the friendly matches in March. Prelude to the much more painful cut from the list for the big tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
A rollercoaster campaign
Nkunku’s two penalty goals against Atalanta and Genoa in the last two games of 2025-26 weren’t enough to earn a call-up. Nor were they enough for AC Milan to secure a place in next season’s Champions League, the first disappointment of the spring for the former Chelsea man.
It hasn’t been an easy season for the Frenchman, between settling into Italy and tactical difficulties in Massimiliano Allegri’s 3-5-2 formation. Nkunku struggled to establish himself and to get playing time once Allegri firmly focused on Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao as the attacking duo.
This was after Christopher seemed to have found his feet between late December and January. His final tally is eight goals and three assists in 36 official matches for the Rossoneri, a goal every 191 minutes.
These numbers are perhaps below expectations for a striker paid €37m plus bonuses, but understandable in his first year in Serie A, especially after the injuries he suffered at Chelsea. Nkunku, as mentioned, has also suffered under Allegri’s decisions, playing him as a striker which he is not.
What next?
In a more attacking and collaborative style of football, Milan – led by Gerry Cardinale and Zlatan Ibrahimovic – are ‘convinced’ the former Bundesliga top scorer can perform much better next year. So, a previously certain sale (there were even links in January) could be off the table.
This is why Nkunku should stay, barring offers that are above his real value, which are currently unlikely to come in. Who knows, maybe he’ll find a ‘friendly’ coach at his side at Milanello, like Mauricio Pochettino who brought him to Chelsea in 2023.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work out, as Nkunku broke down during the summer tour and then struggled for almost the entire season. “I see him as a number 10 rather than a winger,” the Argentine coach said of him at the time.
Curiously, these were the same words Chris uttered on the day of his presentation at Milan. However, Ralf Rangnick and Olivier Glasner also know Nkunku well. The former brought him to Leipzig from PSG, the latter faced him several times in Germany.
Milan will keep low contributions players because cant capital gain
If they sell Leao for 40, capital gain is 28. So they would need probably 30 to 40 more of capital gain. Which they can have maybe partly from Morata sale, probably some of Bennacer and possibly Loftus Cheek.
Low contribution players cant reach big capital gain so it make them very hard to find substitute players for ther departure.
For example if you sell Estupinan for 14 million to avoid loss on books you cant find easily left back who will have more contributions than Estupinan for 14 million…
If you sell Leao, why sell Nkunku too? Makes no sense. We need investment in other areas. And we still have no idea who’s going to be the next coach and what the new formation will be. Maybe Nkunku will be used far better in that new system. Who knows?
And maybe he will do what he’s done since leaving Germany. The Bundesliga is a joke of a league, teams cannot defend which is how average players pad out their stats, then leave for other leagues and tank. When was the last time a good forward player from the Bundesliga left and was a hit in another league? There’s only Dembele, Haaland and Lewandowski in the last 10 years!
Havertz – has done okay.
Jovic – tanked at Real Madrid, has done okay since.
Mkhitaryan – tanked at Man United, good in Serie A.
Nunku – tanked.
Pulisic – up and down.
Sancho – tanked.
Sane (Man City) – did okay?
Werner – tanked.
Wirtz – tanked.
Very good.
People unnotice some of very good scouting players that arrive at Milan like Reijnders, Hernandez, Thiaw after big work with him, and Tonali.
Problem is Cardinale wants good books. So they left for capital gain.
Other arrivals did what you told – they flopped.
But they make good in their teams : like De Ketelaere, Jashari, Ricci, Musah and Chukwueze.
New one are Gimenez and Nkunku.
Now you have squad of players who cant contribute in Milan team, because less and less quality players stayed at Milan, and more and more flopped players
Bottom line for Cardinale – you cant have sheeps and money in the same time. If you want to have Milan, you must give away your money to keep team competitive….
DeBruyne, Mane, Firminho, Szoboszlai, Son Gundogan, Woltemeide. I’m sure there’s more but these are off the top of my head …
And I would say Wirtz tanked – Slot got it all wrong this season clearly …
Because dumb Milan fans think it’s actually viable to buy and sell 50-100% of your entire team each season.
That’s how delusional they are.
Of course we can’t sell. We bought him for waaaay too much money and he’s not in break even territory.